DBAVERY1@aol.com wrote:
>
> Everything was going fine until tonight. Driving along at night with
> headlights on and the radio quit and then the lights got real low and the car
> stopped. No lights and would not turn over.
>
> Pulled the battery cover in the dark and everything was tight and clean. I
> noticed the interior lights were bright so tried again and the car started up.
> Radio was turned off and headed home but when turn headlights on and car
> sputtered - tried to drive with just parking lights as is a somewhat clear
> night - pretty soon it was sputtering again. Turned parking lights off and OK
> - back on and immediately cut out. Turned lights off and went for awhile and
> then died. Interior light comes on but dim and would not turn over - just
> grunted like no juice. Waited to see if it would come back to life but didn't
> work the 2nd time.
Sounds like another alternator problem, but you should take some voltage
measurements at various points with engine off no load, engine off with
load (e.g. headlights), engine on no load, engine on with load. Typical
points to measure voltages would be battery posts (not connectors),
alternator output terminal (connector on) and case, brown circuit at
various places, white circuit at various places. Remember that the
external ballast for the coil will affect the voltage you see at the
coil +ve. It should be around 12v when cranking, but could be either 6v
or 12v otherwise, depending on whether the points are open or closed.
PaulH.
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